Advertising does more for the material benefit of the community than any other force I can think of.
material benefit“物质利益”；force“力量”，armed force“武装力量”，military force“军事力量”；这句话说的是“广告给大众带来的物质利益多于我能想到的其他任何力量。”
There is one point I feel I ought to touch on. Recently I heard a well-known television personality declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs. He was drawing excessively fine distinctions. Of course advertising seeks to persuade.
point“要点”；I feel为插入语；ought to do“应该做某事”；touch on“提及，谈及”；personality“名人”，也可以表示“个性，品格”；declare“宣称”，名词declaration；persuade“说服，劝说”，名词persuasion；rather than“而不是”；inform“告知”；excessively“过分地，极度”，形容词excessive，过度消耗或过度消费，可以用excessive consumption；fine“细致的”，也可以表示“优良的”，还可以充当名词“罚款”；distinction“区分”，distinct“有区别的，截然不同的”，distinctive则表示“有特色的，与众不同的”；“他做了过于细致的区分”excessively这个词说明作者对其观点持不赞同态度；seek to do“试图做某事”。
If its message were confined merely to information -- and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the colour of a shirt is subtly persuasive -- advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention. But perhaps that is what the well-known television personality wants.
if引导虚拟条件句，与现在事实相反；message“消息，广告词”；be confined to“局限于”；in itself“就其本身而言，本质上”；if not impossible to achieve双重否定表肯定，为了便于理解，这种情况可以削减否定，即if possible to achieve“如果可能实现的话”；for引导原因状语从句；subtly“微妙地”；persuasive“有说服力的，说服性的”；两个破折号之间为插入语，起到补充说明的作用，可以略过；so...that...“如此...，以致于...”；boring“无聊的”；结尾转折又一次点明作者对著名电视人观点的不赞同。
发表于 2017-5-16 17:28:17